Job misconceptions

NotSharknado

Inspired by WM's Judgement thread.

What careers do you think have a lot of misconceptions?

Ex: Dh is a plumber and a lot of people's first thought is he works with shiit. Not true.

People also assume all plumbers are crooks. Not true.

It never occured to me that pedis don't make that much. Huge misconception on my part. I assumed all doctors made a boat load of money.

NotSharknado

EllaHella:

ReallyNervous disproved my notion that all lawyers are smart. nbsp;

That she did.

MJHershey

To go along with the misconceptions about doctors, people think we're rich because DH is a dentist. 

Little do they know, he also has tons of dental school loan debt and he is not a partner so he does not rake it in. 

 

juniper19

I don't know if this was already covered in the post you refer to, but most doctors don't make a boat load of money. Plus they often have to take our huge loans to cover medical school tuition (about 40-50k/year) and then they get paid less about 30k/year for their residencies, which are 3-6 years. (And don't forget undergrad loans too!) At this point the only doctors who make a ton of money are specialists who don't have to take insurance (like cosmetic plastic surgeons). Some other specialties can make enough money to be very comfortable, but not super rich.

bigbootyjudi

My job....a CNA/PCT/Nursing Assistant.

Everyone just assumes we just wipe azz all day long.

Untrue - far from the truth actually. On my floor, we do everything for the nurses except pass pills; dressing changes, blood sugars, vitals, showers, answer call lights, clean rooms, walk people to the bathroom, take out IVs and catheters, do bladder scans, check you in and out....way more than just walk around wiping azz all day. I wish I only wiped azz all day, TBH.

juniper19

Mom2Oli:

what do people assume is a buttload of money? I know somebody who just finished residency, wasn't the best student or doctor and is starting off with a 160K salary plus a 20K bonus

Depends on the local COL and if you're supporting a family. Also on how much financial aid you needed. If you had to take out loans for college, you could easily be a few hundred thousand dollars in debt by the time you finish a residency.

JJ_13

MJHershey:

To go along with the misconceptions about doctors, people think we're rich because DH is a dentist. 

Little do they know, he also has tons of dental school loan debt and he is not a partner so he does not rake it in. 

 

This is interesting to me. I did not think that dentists were rich until I saw my friends' house that they just bought. They're both dentists, 2 years out of dental residencies and they bought a 3/4 of a million dollar house. In a MCOL area (city in NC). Seems pretty rich to me.

acesup

I'm a social worker, so people always assume I am a huge bleeding heart. it's not true.

(i mean, i'm not made of stone either - but a bleeding heart for all the lost souls i am not) 

edited for spelling 

MrsT0514

christel811:

Accountants are boring. Wait a minute...I'm an accountant and I'm boring. Never mind.nbsp; I have to think of something else.

Lol. No offense intended towards any accountants out there, but any accountant I've ever worked with in the past has had the dryest sense of humor I've ever seen/heard! Lol.

Eta..I'm also guilty of the doctors making shiitloads of money misconception.

littlestjerry

Hmm I've never thought of plumbers as crooks. But yeah I would think he sees more poo than me. 

I think my SIL still thinks I make a lot of money because I'm a lawyer, but I'm on my third non-lucrative job so far. My last job (just started a new one last week) was amazingly poor-paying.  

littlestjerry

uconnhuskie007:

That event planning is a really fun, in the field all the time going to parties kind of job.  It ain't.

Ooh yeah, I totally glamorize this job in my head. But I am NOT detail oriented so I would probably suck at it and be stressed and overwhelmed by it. 

quidditchcapn1120

JJ_13:

MJHershey:

To go along with the misconceptions about doctors, people think we're rich because DH is a dentist. 

Little do they know, he also has tons of dental school loan debt and he is not a partner so he does not rake it in. 

 

This is interesting to me. I did not think that dentists were rich until I saw my friends' house that they just bought. They're both dentists, 2 years out of dental residencies and they bought a 3/4 of a million dollar house. In a MCOL area (city in NC). Seems pretty rich to me.

There are a lot of factors that play into this. Did they buy into the practice they are working with? What residency did they do? Generally, pediatrics, orthodontics, and oral surgery equal money. Periodontics, endodontics, or prosthodontics do not generally rake it in.

Also, did their families help with the cost of school? I'm sitting on 300,000 dollars in student loans right now and the government is just twiddling their thumbs waiting for me to finish residency so I can start paying that back.

quidditchcapn1120

I feel like my job inherently has a lot of misconceptions associated with it. First, when I walk into a room, the parent almost always assumes I am the assistant or the hygienist. I get a lot of questions about how long I went to school and most think dentistry is a trade school or bachelor's degree, not 10 years of your life.

Never mind all the misconceptions about my job being centered around torturing children, poisoning people with fluoride, and cleaning teeth all day.

LadyXaverian

I am a high school teacher, and most people think I have a really easy schedule and job.

One example- we have something called "distinguished professionals"- people who are coming into teaching as a 2nd career without training in education. We have a professional nurse in our school who teaches nursing/medical diagnostic classes. After her first week last year, she was so pisssed off because the reason she left nursing to teach was because she wanted more free time at home. She thought teaching was literally an 8-4 job. I guess she figured those lessons planned themselves, and she had no idea about the amount of professional development that we have to attend.

I love my job, I'm not unhappy with my paycheck, but I'll cutabiitch who makes sarcastic comments about my M-F/8-4/9 months of the year job.

 

NotSharknado

SarahL77:

I am a high school teacher, and most people think I have a really easy schedule and job. One example we have something called "distinguished professionals" people who are coming into teaching as a 2nd career without training in education. We have a professional nurse in our school who teaches nursing/medical diagnostic classes. After her first week last year, she was so pisssed off because the reason she left nursing to teach was because she wanted more free time at home. She thought teaching was literally an 84 job. I guess she figured those lessons planned themselves, and she had no idea about the amount of professional development that we have to attend.I love my job, I'm not unhappy with my paycheck, but I'll cutabiitch who makes sarcastic comments about my MF/84/9 months of the year job. nbsp;

Not to mention the parent teacher conferences, aren't you guys there until 8, 9pm sometimes? Also? I couldn't do your job. I give major props to teachers.

NotSharknado

GhostMonkey:

MrsT0514:

christel811:

Accountants are boring. Wait a minute...I'm an accountant and I'm boring. Never mind.nbsp; I have to think of something else.

Lol. No offense intended towards any accountants out there, but any accountant I've ever worked with in the past has had the dryest sense of humor I've ever seen/heard! Lol.

Eta..I'm also guilty of the doctors making shiitloads of money misconception.

You should come visit our land of sarcasm, swear words, and trying to figure out how to get our bosses to buy us beer. 

 

I want to go there.

klondikebar

DH is a banker. I've heard plenty of times that bankers are overpaid for a cushy job. He's well paid, but the man works for it and it hasn't been easy. Long, erratic hours, working vacations and unholy amounts of stress causing physical ailments are no fun. We went through a long period of him adjusting to the transition between work and home. He talks in his sleep having dream meetings and wakes up in the middle of the night to check some file or numbers. And the office politics are horrendous if you have morals.

kwitt22

I worked as a sales rep for a very large mobile phone company. Customers thought we were all kids making 7.50 an hour. Totally untrue. I made killer money, in fact I got laid off and took a 12k a year pay cut. We all had college degrees and our ages ranged from 22 to 65. My biggest pet peeve when parents would ask us if there 16 year old could work there. I just asked politely if they had a college degree yet? No, ok then no they can't work here!

theimpossibleastronaut

Most people assume editors can spell anything. So not true.

J+MS

Respiratory Therapy. Everyone assumes I'm a nurse, but we are specialists, like physical therapy or occupational therapy. We know everything there is to know about the lungs and heart. We intubate, ventilate, we know all the meds, etc etc. I dig this shiit. 

NotSharknado

GhostMonkey:

shanado:

GhostMonkey:

MrsT0514:

christel811:

Accountants are boring. Wait a minute...I'm an accountant and I'm boring. Never mind.nbsp; I have to think of something else.

Lol. No offense intended towards any accountants out there, but any accountant I've ever worked with in the past has had the dryest sense of humor I've ever seen/heard! Lol.

Eta..I'm also guilty of the doctors making shiitloads of money misconception.

You should come visit our land of sarcasm, swear words, and trying to figure out how to get our bosses to buy us beer. 

 

I want to go there.

You should come. Just shove some shiit in a file and play on a computer looking busy.

 

I'm really good at looking busy. And Shiit filing.

MJHershey

Having been through Dental residencies means they're specialists, and if its a small town and they are one of few dentist or specialists yup, bank.

General dentist in a big city? Not as much.